“Had we known of the controversy, we would not have permitted PJ Kurien to speak at the side event,” say the organisers of Women Deliver conference

With twitterati in India launching a tirade against Rajya Sabha P.J.Kurien’s presence at an international conference on women underway here, the organisers of Women Deliver on Wednesday said they were unaware of charges against him.

In a statement issued here, Women Deliver said it took the issues of violence against women and rape very seriously.

“We were unaware that Indian Parliamentarian PJ Kurien is facing allegations of rape. While we cannot comment on the specific allegations, had we known of the controversy, we would not have permitted PJ Kurian to speak at the side event. Addressing violence against women is central to our mission as an organization and one of the focus areas of this global conference,” the statement said.

Women’s activists lost no time in writing to UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister demanding Mr Kurien’s removal as chairperson of Rajya sabha.

Mr Kurien’s case involves gang rape of a minor girl in Suryanelli in Kerala. While the victim has alleged that she was raped by 42 men over 40 days and one of them was Mr Kurien. In 2005, the Kerala High Court tried 35 men but Mr Kurien was not among them- and acquitted 34. This order was recently set aside by the Supreme Court following which there have been demands of Mr Kurien’s removal as chairperson of Rajya Sabha.

We, the undersigned, are writing to demand swift, comprehensive and effective action addressing the representation of rape and domestic violence on Facebook. Specifically, we call on you, Facebook, to take three actions:

Recognize speech that trivializes or glorifies violence against girls and women as hate speech and make a commitment that you will not tolerate this content.

Effectively train moderators to understand how online harassment differently affects women and men, in part due to the real-world pandemic of violence against women.

To this end, we are calling on Facebook users to contact advertisers whose ads on Facebook appear next to content that targets women for violence, to ask these companies to withdraw from advertising on Facebook until you take the above actions to ban gender-based hate speech on your site. (We will be raising awareness and contacting advertisers on Twitter using the hashtag #FBrape.)

Specifically, we are referring to groups, pages and images that explicitly condone or encourage rape or domestic violence or suggest that they are something to laugh or boast about. Pages currently appearing on Facebook include Fly Kicking Sluts in the Uterus, Kicking your Girlfriend in the Fanny because she won’t make you a Sandwich, Violently Raping Your Friend Just for Laughs, Raping your Girlfriend and many, many more. Images appearing on Facebook include photographs of women beaten, bruised, tied up, drugged, and bleeding, with captions such as “This bitch didn’t know when to shut up” and “Next time don’t get pregnant.”

These pages and images are approved by your moderators, while you regularly remove content such as pictures of women breastfeeding, women post-mastectomy and artistic representations of women’s bodies. In addition, women’s political speech, involving the use of their bodies in non-sexualized ways for protest, is regularly banned as pornographic, while pornographic content – prohibited by your own guidelines – remains. It appears that Facebook considers violence against women to be less offensive than non-violent images of women’s bodies, and that the only acceptable representation of women’s nudity are those in which women appear as sex objects or the victims of abuse. Your common practice of allowing this content by appending a [humor] disclaimer to said content literally treats violence targeting women as a joke.

The latest global estimate from the United Nations Say No to Violence Campaign is that the percentage of women and girls who have experienced violence in their lifetimes is now up to an unbearable 70%. In a world in which this many girls and women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime, allowing content about raping and beating women to be shared, boasted and joked about contributes to the normalisation of domestic and sexual violence, creates an atmosphere in which perpetrators are more likely to believe they will go unpunished, and communicates to victims that they will not be taken seriously if they report.

According to a UK Home Office Survey, one in five people think it is acceptable in some circumstances for a man to hit or slap his wife or girlfriend in response to her being dressed in sexy or revealing clothes in public. And 36% think a woman should be held fully or partly responsible if she is sexually assaulted or raped whilst drunk. Such attitudes are shaped in part by enormously influential social platforms like Facebook, and contribute to victim blaming and the normalisation of violence against women.

Although Facebook claims, in a narrowly-defined defense of free speech, not to be involved in challenging norms or censoring people’s speech, you have in place procedures, terms and community guidelines that you interpret and enforce.Facebook prohibits hate speech and your moderators deal with content that is violently racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and anti-Semitic every day. Your refusal to similarly address gender-based hate speech marginalizes girls and women, sidelines our experiences and concerns, and contributes to violence against them. Facebook is an enormous social network with more than a billion users around the world, making your site extremely influential in shaping social and cultural norms and behaviors.

Facebook’s response to the many thousands of complaints and calls to address these issues has been inadequate. You have failed to make a public statement addressing the issue, respond to concerned users, or implement policies that would improve the situation. You have also acted inconsistently with regards to your policy on banning images, in many cases refusing to remove offensive rape and domestic violence pictures when reported by members of the public, but deleting them as soon as journalists mention them in articles, which sends the strong message that you are more concerned with acting on a case-by-case basis to protect your reputation than effecting systemic change and taking a clear public stance against the dangerous tolerance of rape and domestic violence.

In a world in which hundreds of thousands of women are assaulted daily and where intimate partner violence remains one of the leading causes of death for women around the world, it is not possible to sit on the fence. We call on Facebook to make the only responsible decision and take swift, clear action on this issue, to bring your policy on rape and domestic violence into line with your own moderation goals and guidelines.

The body has asked for an immediate repeal of the controversial law throughout the troubled zones.

Rashida Manjoo, the Special UN Rapporteur says the act, which has been blamed for arbitrary executions in Kashmir and seven northeastern Indian states, gives sweeping powers to troops to arrest, search and even shoot people with impunity from local laws. She believes the act violates international laws.

India introduced AFSPA in 1958 to put down separatist movements in the country’s northeast which extended to most parts of Indian-administered Kashmir soon after the outbreak of armed insurgency against New Delhi’s rule in 1989.

Hafiza is one of the many thousands of victims hit hard by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. Her 15-year-old son was taken away by government forces in Kashmir and his whereabouts remain unknown to date.

Manjoo was in India to assess the situation of violence against women. The UN expert’s visit to India comes at a time when violence against women has increased exponentially in India’s capital as well as other cities.

According to the national crime records in India, rape cases more than doubled between 1990 and 2008. Statistics show 228,650 of the 256,329 victims of violent crimes recorded in the country last year were women. The conviction rate for rape cases in India is 26%. Investigations also reveal every 20 minutes one rape happens in the country. Despite the increase in sexual violence, the number of convictions is falling.

Human rights defenders have repeatedly requested the Indian government to revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. But the administration still seems least interested in responding to the calls and this has created an atmosphere of impunity and lack of accountability for the crimes security forces have perpetrated… Shahana Butt, Press TV, New Delhi, India

We, the undersigned women’s organizations and concerned citizens, express our strong condemnation of the rising incidence of heinous crimes against women and girls in Delhi. This continues in spite of an unrelenting campaign by women’s groups and civil society over the past many months. The recent rape and sexual torture of a 5-year old girl in Delhi once again highlights that the police and administration continue to respond to crimes against women casually, in gross violation of the law.

Delhi and the National Capital Region is not a safe place for women and girls, either inside the home, in workplaces or on the streets. This is evident from the ever-increasing incidents of rape and other sexual crimes against women and girls. This is a shameful indicator of the inadequate response and abject failure of State agencies to uphold the rights and safety of women. It is time that the government and its entire machinery, including the police, institute mechanisms and practices that will end impunity for all forms of violence against women..

We call on the Delhi Police to carry out efficient and time-bound investigations and take measures to ensure a speedy trial leading to stringent punishment in all cases of sexual violence. The police must also ensure that they take urgent necessary steps to ensure a competent, legal and sensitive responses by its personnel at all levels. We can wait no longer.

We demand that the following measures be undertaken by the police authorities on an emergency basis:

1. Registration of a case under Sec. 166A IPC against the Investigating Officer of P.S. Gandhinagar , for not investigating the case of sexual violence in accordance with law.

2. Action against supervising Police Officers – SHO – for failure to discharge their responsibility in supervising the investigation.

3. Action against all concerned police personnel of P.S. Gandhinagar, for failure to comply with the directive of the Supreme Court of India to immediately register a case of a ‘missing child’ and promptly investigate the same.

4. Investigation into the allegation of bribe to the parents to hush up the case.

5. Standardized investigation procedures to be circulated to all police stations, with action taken against police personnel who do not implement them properly;

6. Increased sensitization, effective investigation and accountability of the police at all levels in dealing with all crimes against women and girls.

7. Immediate relief, legal and medical assistance, and long term rehabilitation measures including counselling to be provided to survivors of rape, through necessary referrals and without delays.

8. Ensure that all areas that are vulnerable and unsafe be referred to the appropriate authorities to improve infrastructure to make cities safer for women and girls.

Since the December 2012 gang rape case in Delhi, many cases of violence against women and girl are being reported with frightening regularity. The shocking incident of sexual assault and brutalization of the 5 year old girl in Delhi and that of the 6 year old girl raped and murdered in Aligarh are the two recent ones that have been reported. Over and over again, the police has failed to discharge its duties and has proved itself to be corrupt, ineffective and often violent.

In case after case, women, their relatives and supporters continue to be harassed and those protesting inaction of the police are being thrashed. In the Delhi case, we protest the calculated delay in filing an FIR, attempt at bribing the family and the audacity in assaulting the woman protester. We also protest the physical violence perpetrated by the police in Aligarh on women protestors, as well as the insensitive remarks of the SSP (Aligarh), Amit Pathak about the little girl who was murdered. Suspending police personnel is mere eyewash and NOT enough! We have to make sure that all those who have attempted at subverting justice are chargesheeted and dismissed. We have to hold police personnel accountable under the various provision of the newly promulgated Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013. We also demand that police reforms be initiated and put in place.

Friends, comrades join the protest organised by women’s groups and progressive groups on Monday 22nd April 2013 at 12.30 pm at Jantar Mantar.

Suja Jones, an Indian woman, has taken her French husband to court in the city of Bangalore, India, on charges of rape of their then 3 year-old daughter.
She is fighting a lonely battle.
The French authorities provided continued unilateral support to the accused, an employee at the French consulate in Bangalore, leaving the mother of three minor French citizens alone to fend for them.
The French media have given a very biased coverage of this case, based on the allegations of the accused father.
This undeniably added an unnecessary hardship on the already deeply wounded mother and children.
We, the undersigned, express our deep concern at the role and attitude of French authorities in this case, which has in many respects impeded and violated the right of the child to be protected and defended.
On the eve of the trial due to start on March 22, we express our solidarity with the 3 year old victim and support her mother in the defence of the child’s rights.Background Information :
For a comprehensive account of the role of French authorities as well as local Bangalore police, see Suja Jones’ appeal to the women assembled in New York during the March 2013 session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), devoted this year to violence against women.
(URL: http://www.sacw.net/article3977.html)
This appeal was widely circulated to women’s organisations worldwide during the CSW and beyond.
Several actions were undertaken to demand from France a more ethical attitude in this case :
President Hollande during his February 2013 visit to New Delhi was requested to grant equal treatment to both parties, after his services received the lawyers of the accused at the Elysée Palace.
In a letter dated February 10, 2013, attention of the Minister of Women’s Rights in Paris, France, was drawned to actions of French diplomatic representation in India in support of the accused employee, juxtaposed with a campaign of harassment and slander against the mother.
The Minister was made aware of the following actions by senior French officials in India, who

helped empty the joint account of the couple by cashing cheques emitted by the accused father from his jail ti teh benefit of the deputee consul, leaving Suja Jones and the three children without means of subsistence ;
still retain the passports of the French children of the couple, upon request of the accused father, in blatant disregard for the Indian court’s decision to grant temporary custody to the mother while the case is pending in court ; this also contravenes the obligation under French law for every French citizen to carry identity documents;
stood by the father in court while ignoring the presence of the mother and her lawyers ;
pretend that this is a marital dispute not a rape case, although no divorce case has been filed till date;
did not respond positively to any of the requests by the mother for financial and legal help.
Demands for clarification on France’s representatives’ wrong doings were also sent to the Ministries of Home Affairs and of Foreign Affairs.
While the Ministry of Women’s Rights and the Ministry of Home Affairs simply ignored the letters and demands for clarification, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that this was a case of marital dispute, and justified the actions taken by France’s representatives in India.
Taken to task by several individuals and women’s organisations in France, the French Consular authorities now undertake to prove their concern for the very children they deprived of means of subsistance and of identity documents, by further harassing their mother, for instance by sending her surprise visits by the Child Protection services, as if she were the accused in the case.
Meanwhile, the French media, ignoring early medical reports and other experts’ testimonies, have presented a totally one sided picture of the case, just highlighting the point of view of the accused.
And men’s rights groups in India are at the forefront of supporting the accused father.
On February 23, 2013 an ad hoc support committee was formed, which called on French women organisations to openly question the role of France in this case.
The ad-hoc support committee also provided full information on the case to the Special UN Rapporteur on Violence Against women and to members of the Indian delegation to the CSW.
Meanwhile, in Bangalore, it seems that pressure was put on medical doctors to revise their earlier conclusions on the reality of the rape, and on witnesses to withdraw their testimonies.
Moreover, it seems that some evidence has gone missing from the file, including police record of the first interrogation of the child.DNA swabs taken on the abused child on the day of the last rape incident are now missing : DNA tests produced before the court do not carry either the DNA of the father or that of the child.
The accused father filed for his immediate release, stating that the results of DNA tests demonstrate that he is not implicated in the crime ; he also filed for custody of the children.
In wake of numerous wrongdoings and irregularities, as well as the absence of adequate and sufficient reaction from French authorities,
we call on women and human rights organisations to join us and widely support our solidarity campaign for justice for Suja Jones and Child X.
initiated by:

Kota Rajatshan, March 22, 2013 – . Now the ration dealers in rajasthan are going to motivate men and women who come to their shop for Sterlization. This March and the state health departed is searching frantically for sterilization cases to meet the targets, As a result, even the ration dealers are given targets in Bundi ,to bring 2 cases of sterilization each , by March 30th 2013 to the department

The International Women’s Health Coalition and our amazing partners from around the world came out in force to the UN for the negotiations. Our agenda was clear: push governments to commit to concrete strategies to empower women and girls and end gender-based violence. We would not be silenced. We would not be denied our rights.

We met with instant opposition from conservative governments. Countries such as Iran, Russia, Egypt, and Syria joined with the Vatican to use culture and religion as arguments to deny women their rights. But there can be no excuse to justify violence against women. Consensus was finally reached to loud applause from supportive governments such as the U.S., South Africa, Uruguay, Argentina, Turkey, the Philippines, Norway, Denmark, and even the small island of Tonga! As the document was adopted, hundreds of women’s rights activists streamed into the negotiating room to join in the cheers.

The Commission has released 17 pages of agreed conclusions, which build on the global momentum of the past 20 years and represent an important step forward for women and girls. For the first time at the UN, governments reached consensus that survivors of rape are entitled to emergency contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy, and to timely and respectful forensic exams to support prosecution. They called for an end to child marriages. They agreed women’s right to control their sexuality is essential to preventing further violence. And they recognized the role that evidence-based sexuality education can play in reducing the harmful gender stereotypes that lead to violence.

Once again, we women have shown we’re an irresistible force. But our work is far from over. Now we must be vigilant to ensure that the agreements made at the UN are put into practice in local communities worldwide. For that to happen, women’s groups must be supported to hold their own leaders to account.

The draft text, due to be issued by the UN Commission on the Status of Women today, calls for the “elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls”.

The Brotherhood contests provisions on sexual abuse, sexual rights, sexual health and the right of women to control their sexuality. Specifically, it opposes provisions calling for equal inheritance rights, equality within the family, raising the legal age for marriage and granting permission for Muslim women to marry non-Muslims.

The movement also objects to permitting Muslim women to travel, work and use contraception without the approval of male relatives. It argues the document is “deceitful” because it would give women the choice of abortion “under the guise of sexual and reproductive rights”.

Adoption of the document would “lead to social disintegration”, the Brotherhood claims. It said in a statement: “The Muslim Brotherhood calls on leaders of Islamic countries, their foreign ministers and representatives in the Un ited Nations to reject and condemn this document.”
Influence
Since it rules Egypt, the most populous Arab country, the Brotherhood wields considerable influence with Muslim governments. On the issue of women’s rights, it has also secured the backing of Russia, Poland and the Vatican.

On the issues of sexual freedom, abortion and homosexuality, conservative Muslims and Christians have made common cause for years.

Sexual harassment, rape and assaults against women have increased in Egypt since the fall of president Hosni Mubarak two years ago, prompting criticism of presidentMohamed Morsi and his government for failing to tackle the phenomenon.

Women’s groups contend attacks during demonstrations against Brotherhood policies are being carried out with the aim of ending women’s participation. At least 29 assaults by gangs of men were reported on January 25th, during a rally in Cairo marking the anniversary of the 2011 uprising.

A World Bank report said that up to 70 per cent of women suffer violence in their lifetime, and that women aged 15-44 are “more at risk from domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria”.

The most common form of violence committed against women is physical abuse including beatings and rape by a partner.

This study examines the impact of mandated reservations for femalesarpanch (elected heads of gram panchayats) on perceptions of service delivery and women’s democratic participation. Using survey data from Sangli district in Maharashtra, it finds that the availability of basic public services is significantly higher in female sarpanch villages compared to the male sarpanch villages when the former have been in the job for three to three-and-a-half years. Indeed, reservations have had a significant positive impact on the democratic participation of women in female sarpanch villages though the positive effects in terms of service delivery and democratic participation will take some more time to materialise.

Conclusions

we found that the male sarpanch had somewhat
better economic, social and educational status and better
political connections as compared to the female sarpanch. In
spite of this, the female sarpanch seem to have had interesting
and important impacts.

Equally importantly, we find that the political participation
of the women is a signifi cant causal factor in explaining the
services availability. Additionally, political participation of

women is higher in female sarpanch villages as compared to
male sarpanch villages for elections held both one year back
and three-and-a-half years back and such higher participation,
combined with a female leader, further increases service
availability. Thus, having a female sarpanch affects the political
participation of women in a village positively and it is likely to
be through this channel that the availability of services

improves over a period of three to three-and-a-half years. The
policy implication that comes out of this is that mandated
reservation for female sarpanch would work better if the time
period is increased from fi ve years to (say) 10 years. Thus,
instead of increasing reservation for women to 50% as has
been done, or in addition to it, it may be a good step if the
time period of reservation is increased as well.